


Villainy

by Priestlyislove



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: Backstory, Body Image, Body Worship, Brief descriptions of past injuries, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Self-Esteem Issues, headcanons, mostly comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25103167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Priestlyislove/pseuds/Priestlyislove
Summary: Lord Boxman and Professor Venomous have some time to kill before they can attack the plaza. Boxman has a question for Venomous.
Relationships: Lord Boxman/Professor Venomous (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 131





	Villainy

“In fifteen minutes, the plaza will be blown to smithereens!” 

Venomous hummed. “Why fifteen?”

Boxman gave the whirring machine a hearty smack and gave Venomous an equally hearty grin. “It needs to warm up first.” 

“So, for the next fifteen minutes...?”

“We wait.” Boxman supplied, wiping his hands off on his lab coat. After a second, he continued, “Can I get you a drink?”

“Uh, no, I’m...I’m alright.” Venomous stood stock still as Boxman made his way over to him, throwing himself down on the ratty couch occupying the corner of the room not covered with mechanical parts with a groan. 

“Sit, Professor, I don’t bite!” He patted the seat vigorously. “Unless you’re into that! Ha!” 

Venomous forced a sympathy chuckle and tried to hold his position, but after forty five seconds of painful silence he submitted and sat delicately on the couch. 

“You sure I can’t get you anything?” Boxman offered again, “I’ve got all kinds of sodas in the fridge.”

“Let’s just...wait. Quietly.” Venomous tried to keep his focus on the machine, slowly coming to life. It was an incredible thing to behold. Boxman couldn’t read a room, but he sure could build a weapon of mass destruction out of scraps. 

“Can I ask you something?” Boxman leaned closer, making Venomous instinctively lean back. 

“Go for it.” Venomous sighed. He knew it’d be pointless to ask him to maintain the silence any longer. 

“Why’d you become a villain?” 

Venomous blinked. “The money, really.” He answered honestly. Boxman brought out the honesty in him. It wasn’t he couldn’t lie to him, but he found himself strangely not wanting to.

“But you’re so rich and handsome-!”

“I’m _purple_ ,” Venomous laughed, covering his mouth. Maybe it was Boxman’s earnest bluntness that made him want to be honest. Or maybe it was the way his own face would heat up and his heart would flutter when Boxman would say ridiculous things like that. “And I’m rich _because_ I’m a villain.”

“I guess that adds up,” Boxman sunk back into his seat, preoccupied with processing this new information. He tapped his fingers in his lap. 

Venomous watched him for a few seconds, before deciding to elaborate, “Plus, something happened that made me...I couldn’t go back to the people I knew. I needed to start over.” 

Boxman watched him back, with curious eye and small smile, with his nervous habits and brilliance, with passion so strong it rekindles the fire for life Venomous often feels otherwise dwindling, and Venomous smiled back, “I’m glad I started over.” 

There was a moment that felt like forever where they just sat there, smiling fondly at one another, but then the machine beeped and Boxman was on his feet. He rushed over, and Venomous awkwardly straightened up, not sure if he was supposed to follow. “Is, um, is it alright?” He tried to call out supportively from the couch.

“A minor setback!” Boxman promised, waving a wrench. Venomous settled back in, eyes lazily following his erratic movements as he got it back in working condition. He was confident Boxman could handle it. He really was brilliant. 

“Boxman,” Venomous started, the thought occurring to him, “why did _you_ become a villain?” 

“I like making things! And destroying them! Or, destroying other things. Sometimes the same things!” 

“But why not do that sort of thing for heroes?” He thought back to his time as a hero, and tried to imagine meeting Boxman there. He wondered if he would’ve felt differently about him in that setting. It was impossible to imagine a world where he didn’t feel the way he did towards Boxman. The warmth he inspired felt predetermined and primal, like they could meet a thousand times, and the results would be the same every time. 

Boxman laughed loudly, “PV, do I _look_ like a hero to you?”

Venomous chuckled back, holding his hands up in mock defense, “I know, I know, I’m just wondering.” 

“No, seriously,” Boxman wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to him, motioning grandly to himself. “Look at me. Look at this! And this!” He waved around his feathered arm before tapping his bionic eye. “Do you really think heroes would want anything to do with someone who looks like me?” 

Venomous opened his mouth to respond, but quickly found he had nothing to say. He closed it again and shifted uncomfortably, which earned another laugh from Boxman. 

“So what if heroes are a shallow bunch of narcissists? Just makes destroying them more fun!” He turned back to the machine, and checked it over again. “Crisis averted, we are still ready to fire at T minus nine minutes!”

He walked back over to the couch, and prodded Venomous in the face, snapping him out of it. “What, you feel sorry for me that I don’t have your pretty face?” 

“No, I-“ Venomous mumbled, “your face is very nice, Box. The heroes are wrong.” 

“Ha! They always are. Not like the other villains like me much better, though, huh? Guess it didn’t really matter what side I chose. I chose my side, I guess.” 

Boxman sat down next to him with a flourish, and a loose feather floated to the floor. Venomous watched it before turning to him, “how did that...you know?”

“The arm?” Boxman asked cheerily, as if he had been waiting to be asked. “Lab accident. Left side of my body, _BAM!_ If I had been just an inch more to the side, it would’ve gotten a lung.” 

Venomous cringed, having been in enough close calls to be able to picture it too viscerally. 

“Could’ve been a lot worse. Barely got my head at all, that was lucky, but I was never going to see out of this eye again. So I built a new one. The arm...well, I was _going_ to build a new one, but that creep spiderman was all the rage at the time, and I saw the Lizard and thought ‘hey, I could do that but better!’ And I couldn’t, still got a freaky arm, but at least I don’t turn into a big, murderous chicken.” 

“I’m so grateful you survived, and that you don’t turn into a big, murderous chicken,” Venomous reached out his hand, and Boxman hesitantly held out his arm. Venomous took it gingerly. His feathers were so soft. “It’s a marvel of bioengineering. It’s beautiful. You are beautiful, Box.” 

“You’re so serious, PV,” Boxman’s face had gone bright red as he tried to laugh it off, and Venomous felt as though his chest was caving in with desire. He wanted to kill anyone who made Boxman feel less than perfect. He felt in that moment that his life had no purpose beyond torturing those wretched fools. That, and holding Boxman so closely they felt like one being. He could do one of those two things now. 

Still holding his arm, he used his free hand to touch his cheek. He was _trembling_. When was the last time he trembled? Boxman was the only one who could bring him to his knees. 

“I’ve never done this,” Boxman blurted nervously. “Whatever-whatever it is we’re doing, I mean, I don’t want to assume-“

“It’s ok,” Venomous brought his thumb to his lips, and managed to successfully silence him for the first time. “Can I kiss you?”

“Oh boy. Run that by me one more time, I think I hallucinated the first time.”

“I want to kiss you, Boxman, is that alright?” 

“Alright?” He squawked, “there’s not an adjective big enough in the world to describe how much more than alright it is.” 

Venomous learned in and closed his eyes, but was interrupted by a hand pressed to his lips. He opened his eyes again. Boxman spoke, “wait, PV. I need you to tell me the truth. Are you just...pitying me?” 

“You’ve never said anything so ridiculous before,” Venomous spoke in a reprimanding tone, and he could feel Boxman relax, “you are an incredibly handsome and brilliant inventor, overflowing with evil passion, and you’ve never needed anyone’s approval before. You don’t need mine, but that doesn’t stop me from adoring you anyway.” 

“Ok, you’re free to continue adoring me,” Boxman removed his hand, closing his eye and puckering his lips. Venomous savored the expression for a moment before diving back in, gently brushing his lips against his.

Fifteen minutes after the doom machine was set, it still didn’t go off. Boxman and Venomous were decidedly busy, so the plaza stood another day.


End file.
